I'm your host, Jester. I've been an EVE Online player for about six years. One of my four mains is Ripard Teg, pictured at left. Sadly, I've succumbed to "bittervet" disease, but I'm wandering the New Eden landscape (and from time to time, the MMO landscape) in search of a cure.You can follow along, if you want...

Friday, February 4, 2011

Kill of the Week: The right tool

Check the "related kills" on the right to get the full tally, which included several super-caps, including a Wyvern that I was tempted to make the KOTW instead.

But no, the Golem gets my vote instead because of the circumstances. I wasn't there, but my understanding is that this particular group of ships came together to reinforce an Infrastructre Hub in WYF8-8. They were then hot-dropped by an Initiative super-carrier fleet and cyno bridge for the sub-caps.

Reinforcement fleets are often a bit rag-tag, particularly if brought together on short notice, and they really go a long way toward showing how "professional" your corp or alliance is. Bringing a PvE fit Golem to such an op probably wasn't the wisest choice, but it's not the first nor the last really expensive PvE ship that will be lost in such an op.

Casual, laid-back corps or alliances will foster a "bring whatever you want, as long as you show up" feeling toward ops. It's often combined with a feeling that as long as the individual pilot doesn't mind losing his or her ship, the corp or alliance won't be too embarrassed about the wrong ship type (like, say, this Golem) showing up for and getting blown up in a PvP op. Players in this situation will say something like "I don't have a bomber, but I have a battleship. I'll bring that." and pretty soon, your op fleet is looking a little rag-tag. The pilot caught by a ship loss in this situation will often comment that it's just a game, and that it's his ship and he can do what he likes with it.

On the positive end of this view, you're not going to get yelled at very much as long as you show up for ops, no matter what you end up flying. On the negative end, your corp or alliance will attract gankers looking to kill... and I apologize for this, but this is the view... looking to kill obvious dumb people.

On the opposite end, you've got corps that are extremely professional, hard-core, and bring the right tools for the job, every time. If the op is PvP, even if it's spur of the moment, they bring the exact ship type (and often, the exact fitting) the FC calls for. If a pilot in this sort of corp or alliance does bring a PvE ship to a PvP op, they are fined ISK by their corp or alliance, ridiculed, or just thrown out. On the positive end, such corps don't get embarrassed often and have terrific killboard efficiencies. On the negative end, this is kind of a boring and stifling way to play EVE, and while everyone in your corp or alliance will be pros, you're going to have a morale challenge every time the CEO ridicules someone in public or throws them out on their ear.

I've been in both sorts of alliances in my EVE career, and I struggle with the balance myself. If you're thinking about a move out to 0.0, the choice between "casual" and "hard-core" is going to be one of the very first choices you're going to have to make. Being hard-core is fantastic, but it's annoying and lonely. Being casual is relaxing, but sometimes really embarrassing... ;-)

1 comment:

I think the balance would be found in making sure that all pilots that attend a fleet op can bring whatever ship they're comfortable flying/losing, but with the condition that it is fit as appropriately as they can manage. Meaning they may bring ships that are more commonly used in PvE, but with a modified fit to give them at least some PvP survivability/utility.

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